(courtesy IMDb)
Remember when you were a kid and as Christmas approached, all you wanted, all you could think to ask for from Santa, was one particular toy or thing.
You were, in a way only kids can ask for, obsessed, and all that mattered was getting that present and then everything would be better; you had no proof of that but what kid cares about that? All you wanted was to get your hands on your longed-for item and everything else would, you were certain, take care of itself.
In I Want a Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown, the person wanting the ideal gift is Rerun van Pelt (Jimmy Bennett), the younger brother of crabby, forthright Lucy and thumb-sucking, blanket-carrying Linus (voiced by Ashley Rose Orr and Corey Padnos respectively) and all he wants after being treated badly by his siblings and getting in trouble at school (for an entirely innocent act) is a dog.
He’s convinced that a dog will make everything better, and sets out to spend as much time as possible with Snoopy who, in typical fashion, is either happy to go along with all the attention or rather idiosyncratically push it off to one side.
It’s the way that Snoopy and Rerun interact that powers much of the fun and humour of the special, and while I Want a Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown does have its quirkier cameo moments such as Snoopy spinning Linus around his blankets or riding atop his Sopwith Camel kennel with Sally (Hannah Leigh Dworkin) who just wants to go Christmas shopping – spoiler alert: that never happens), it’s a much more knowing, serious affair with Rerun as its thoughtfully surprisingly worldly-wise protagonist.
Released in 2003, some three years after the death of Peanuts creator, Charles M. Schulz, I Want a Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown isn’t quite the classic that earlier specials based on the beloved comic strip’s characters are.
It has many of the expected ingredients and the playful humour and grounded emotional seriousness of its predecessor, and it has some genuinely warm laugh-out-loud moments but it never quite gels as fully as you expect it to.
It feels, save for the main Rerun storyline, like a series of cameos placed together end-on-end and while many of them are quite delightful, they necessarily make the special feel greater than sum of its parts.
Still, if you’re looking for some innocent, ruminative festive fun with characters you know and love, including the likes of Schroeder (Nick Price) and his Beethoven belting toy piano, Violet (Kaitlyn Maggio) and even Spike (Bill Melendez) who, for a time, is Rerun’s dog until he’s given his marching orders by Mrs. van Pelt, the I Want a Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown is just what the festive doctor ordered.
While Charlie Brown (Adam Taylor Gordon) and Snoopy feature heavily, this is really Rerun’s show and he’s bring a 21st century knowingness to proceedings, the more self-aware kid who, unlike his older peers, gets that certain things don’t always work out, and yet who, like most kids, still wants to believe they will.
I Want a Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown will warm you heart and make things feel festively wonderful and if you’ve ever wished life would bow to your hopes and longings, especially at Christmas, and remake the world as your certain you need it to be, then this special is for you.
(courtesy IMDb)